How Does Social Media Affect an Insurance Claim?

Everyone who advances a significant personal injury or disability claim should know that the insurance company will review all social media sites to obtain information on the person making the claim.

Why is it? Well it’s simple, insurance companies need as much information as possible to assess the value of a person’s claim and social media sites provide a wealth of free information to insurance companies. Insurance companies will look for inconsistencies in the claims people are making and their social media posts. These inconsistencies can generate problems for claimants.

Social media posts from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other sites have negatively affected countless insurance claims over the years. People who post on these sites almost always portray their lives in a “too good to be true” fashion in a way that does not reflect reality.

It is important for clients to understand that anything they post will likely be used by the insurance company in their claim.  While they can continue to use social media, keep that in mind when posting and make sure not to post things that embellish activities or portray your life in a manner that is inconsistent with the truth.

In an extreme case, a police officer in the US was recently charged with insurance fraud after collecting $600,000 in disability benefits after she was injured on the job. She was unable to work for several years and received disability income benefits as a result. The insurer paying the benefits became suspicious when it came across the woman’s social media posts which included completing several 5km runs, going to a music festival, snowboarding and going downhill skiing. While the woman maintains she is still disabled from working, the insurer has terminated the income benefits due to the significant inconsistencies between her injury claims and her social media posts.